You probably see a new one each time you go online. A “listicle” — that’s the name for the article-list hybrid shared so often on social media. How do Alabama and Birmingham rank? Well, WalletHub says Alabama is the 9th worst state for nurses. Birmingham is one of Deep South Magazine’s best “foodie cities” of the South, but it’s absent from Travel and Leisure magazine’s list of best cities for foodies. The methodology of listicles can vary dramatically depending on who’s making the list.
As Nick Patterson, editor of the weekly newspaper WELD, tells WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley, these rankings and claims, no matter how dubious, can change the way people see the place they live. Patterson wrote about listicles and their affects in this week’s WELD.